College applications

[Boston Bread]

I'm majoring in a Math/CS hybrid at the University of Waterloo (ON). Technically I'm a CS and Combinatorics and Optimization joint major, but I refrain from saying the whole thing since people aren't generally aware of this branch of math. Currently in second year.

Main reasons why you'd want to choose Waterloo:
1. Co-op
As someone who has no experience finding jobs, finding a co-op job has been surprisingly easy here. The best opportunities for co-op at UWaterloo are in tech, which fits well with my major. Average pay for CS students is around ~$20CDN per hour, but much higher if you land a good spot in silicon valley and/or in a prestigious company like Google.
2. Good for Math, CS, Engineering
This is what Waterloo is known for. I was aware of this because of the math competitions for high school students that are commonly taken throughout Canada that originated from here. In terms of education, the school has overall good STEM profs, a lot of resources, and a number of venues for trying to build a startup or challenging yourself academically.

Main reasons I chose my major:
1. I chose CS for a relatively straightforward career path. I first got in as a math student and picked up CS as a specialization for this reason. It also meshes well with co-op since CS/Software Eng students are the most in demand and get the most pay in co-ops here.
2. I chose Combinatorics and Optimization (CO) because it combines a pure math-like environment while being relatively useful. Graph theory and optimization (primarily linear/integer programming which is very linear algebra heavy) have many applications. I like pure math because it stimulates a lot of thinking... it's hard to explain but I get a more rewarding feeling doing proofs than doing something more mechanical like calculus. I thought of doing applied math in my first year, until I discovered other branches of math that I found more fulfilling.